Headshrinker
by Jack Lecter
Summary: FAITH'S SHRINK IS HANNIBAL LECTER! Crossover with Silence of The Lambs, but readable even if you haven't seen it. AngelFaith eventually


Headshrinker  
  
By The Shadower  
  
Chapter One  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Faith, Angel, or Buffy. They belong to the WB and whoever bought BtVs. I also don't own Hannibal Lecter. He belongs to Thomas Harris.  
  
Rating: PG; mild language, emotional intensity. Uses Hannibal Lecter as guest star.  
  
Feedback: This was the first thing I ever wrote thinking of it as fanfiction. I definitely need substantial feedback if I'm going to continue.  
  
Author's Note: This is kind of a drabble, a really short piece taking place while Faith is in prison post "Sanctuary" and "There's No Place Like Home," and twelve years before "The Silence of the Lambs. At this time Dr. Lecter is a respectable Forensic Psychiatrist and hasn't done anything against the law. I am a F/A shipper, I watch Angel but I hate Buffy. I wrote this a while ago, and posted it at a yahoo group, but this is its first public exposure. The idea of having Hannibal Lecter as Faith's forensic shrink just popped into my head a few minutes before I started on this fic. I'm not sure how well that's going to go but any readers who do not wish to encounter Dr. Lecter should not read this work, even though there is no cannibalism or any other violent physically violent tendency expressed by the good doctor, whom I do not see as a villain due to the nature of his victims. This will not appeal to Buffy fans, but you probably don't have to like Angel/Faith to enjoy it. I wrote this several months before the other things I've posted, so it may not be as good, PLEASE review I want to know.  
  
Distribution: Ask. The answer will almost certainly be yes, but I like to know where it'll end up and there are a few sites I would say no to.  
  
Faith was only mildly surprised when the guard told her she had a visitor. It wasn't like it was all that shocking. Angel visited her sometimes, though these visits had been becoming rarer and rarer in the recent months. She had no reason to expect Angel, and every reason to think he was still hanging on that blonde bitch's every word about how horrible Faith was.  
  
Faith had had a lot of time to think in prison, and one of her more vindictive conclusions was that Buffy Summers was an absolute bitch. It wasn't like Buffy hadn't had reason to be angry at Faith, to shun Faith's weak, fragmented attempts at apology. The trouble was that Faith thought she knew why Angel never visited anymore. He had told her on his last visit, given her the news in the fashion of a puppy about to receive a scrap of ham. Buffy was alive. She knew he must be spending lots of time with her now, recultivating their relationship in ways Faith knew Buffy didn't deserve.  
  
So when she heard about the visitor, her first thought was that Angel had come to apologize for the discrepancy that had riddled the months since Buffy's return. But the guards didn't lead her to the usual visiting room. She was lead into a private room. The guard that ushered her in told her,  
  
"Commish says you gotta see a shrink. Part of your reform program. Should give this guy a chance, he's good." Faith didn't know if he meant a good person or good as a shrink and she really didn't care. The guard pushed her into her chair and she studied the man across from her.  
  
He had thick, piercing eyes with wrinkles all along the edges and trailing down to his nose. He was thin and gaunt, and the smile that his lips formed was only courteous, not warm or happy.  
  
She was surprised to see that there was no barrier between herself and the shrink. Most shrinks wouldn't feel comfortable in a room with an unrestrained inmate with homicidal tendencies. This, however, did not look like an ordinary shrink. She was further surprised when he motioned for the guard to leave the room. The guard reluctantly obeyed, and the shrink stretched out his hand.  
  
"Dr. Hannibal Lecter," he said as she took it, his voice was clipped and precise but without being harsh.  
  
"Faith," she said, giving no other introduction. He nodded.  
  
"I've been asked to see you by the commissioner," he said. "But anything you tell me will be honored. I will make an effort to maintain confidentiality when writing my report on you. I will take down my evaluations of you but as little as possible of what you actually say." She relaxed in the chair, and somehow found herself trusting this man, this shrink so different from all the others. He studied her carefully, as if mentally dissecting her.  
  
"Would you like to tell me why you're here? What incident specifically?"  
  
She swallowed hard. His voice was soft and somehow hypnotic.  
  
"I killed a man."  
  
He nodded. His mouth opened and he asked a single question.  
  
"Where?"  
  
It wasn't what she had expected. Shrinks usually got right down to picking apart your motives, giving them big important sounding labels so it would seem as if the shrinks knew what they were talking about. She decided to answer Dr. Lecter's question honestly.  
  
"Back in a town near L.A. A place called Sunnydale."  
  
"And why did you kill this man, Faith?"  
  
"It was an accident."  
  
"Not according to the coroner's report. Apparently you stabbed him."  
  
"It was an accident. I though he was someone else."  
  
He didn't stop to question who else she might want to stab. Instead, he asked  
  
"You stabbed him with a sharpened piece of wood?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Why would you use a piece of wood to stab anyone? Was there a fence nearby?"  
  
"No, no, it was for another reason."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I can't tell you."  
  
Dr. Lecter relaxed in his chair. Faith let out her breath, relieved.  
  
"Why do you want to get out, Faith?"  
  
"No one enjoys being incarcerated, sir."  
  
That's it, she thought, follow the procedure. She didn't know why she was suddenly calling him sir, but she gave it little thought. Dr. Lecter spoke again. "Some people do. Some people only feel safe when they're in some institution somewhere. But my question ran more along the lines of, why do you try so hard? You have no family on record. What's waiting for you on the outside?"  
  
An image of Angel came into her mind, but she brushed it off. He was with Buffy now. She had to accept that. And why should she have any trouble accepting it? She didn't like him in that way. Dr. Lecter seemed to read her mind.  
  
"Is there a man out there for you, someone waiting for you?"  
  
Faith felt cold chilled from the inside.  
  
"No."  
  
She tried to make the answer sound calm. He stared at her.  
  
"No one?"  
  
It was spoken in the kindest of tones, but somehow it sliced through Faith.  
  
"No."  
  
This time there was a little more force to it, enough to indicate that he should abandon this subject altogether. He didn't take the hint, but continued, sounding like a sympathetic parent. His tone, that sweet, kind, yet somehow malicious not in it- it reminded her of something. She couldn't quite remember, but something.  
  
"No one at all?"  
  
"No!"  
  
It came out angry, and she felt the tears come to her eyes. Damnitt, it wasn't supposed to be this way! She wasn't supposed to breakdown and shout at the shrink, she was supposed to be putting on the Look How Calm And Normal Faith Is Show.  
  
"No one," she said brokenly, trying to regain her composure. "No one."  
  
He smiled at her and the smile was familiar to. Not the smile itself, but one like it, similar, so similar, if only she could remember...  
  
"I think that's enough for today, Faith."  
  
He pressed a buzzer and the guard came back in and started to take her back to her cell. She saw Dr. Lecter stand, gather his hat from the table, and wait until she was gone to turn his back to her. Suddenly it hit her. She remembered where she had heard that tone of voice, seen that smile. Mayor Wilkins had sounded the same, smiled the same, when he was being unusually sadistic. A chill ran through Faith but she gathered herself together as she moved back to the cell.  
  
AN: PLEASE REVEIW AND TELL ME IF IT'S ANY GOOD. 


End file.
